I've lately been closesly examining the whole Gomery Inquiry into Adscam and the players involved. I have come to realize that Canadians aren't getting the complete picture of all the astonishing corruption and eye-opening relationships and connections surrounding the whole sordid matter.
I feel it's now time to summarize what's most important of what I've found. The basis for this summary stems from the following recent posts here on the Canadian Sentinel: Judge Gomery & PM Martin: The CSL Connection and Judge Gomery, PM Martin, Raymond Garneau: More Disturbing Connections
Be certain to read them and examine the links provided.
We all know about Adscam, the Liberal sponsorship program allegedly implemented to combat the threat of Quebec separatism following the separation referendum of 1995. The basic idea behind the program was to boost the visibility of Canada and the federal government via advertising via sponsoring various events such as in the sports and cultural areas. It's as simple as placing a big sign saying "Canada" on it or having "Canada" stitched on some famous player's clothing and that sort of thing. The cost? $250 million. Sounds like a massive rip-off for such simple stuff as that, doesn't it? I would say it certainly is! A quarter billion bucks to advertise the word "Canada". That's the biggest, most effective weapon the Liberal Party of Canada could muster to fight the Quebec separatists? Scary-- just imagine how they would respond to WWIII or a 9/11-type attack in Canada... plainly, simply scary! The Liberals are obviously imbeciles if they thought a horrendously overpriced program like Adscam would be of any worth whatsoever. After all, the separatist Bloc Quebecois is poised to more or less sweep Quebec in the upcoming federal election and separatism support is way up. Nicely done, Jean and Paul.
Approximately $100 million of that was stolen, hence the Inquiry.
Also important to note: the terms of reference provided by Martin for Gomery prevented Gomery from investigating Martin's possible involvement in Adscam. No wonder Gomery had no choice but to "exonerate" Martin of any wrongdoing. He was, for example, unable to delve into the Earnscliffe affair.
Now to the Gomery Inquiry matter.
Judge John Gomery, a Liberal, was appointed by Prime Minister Paul Martin to head the Inquiry into Adscam. Sure, appointing a Liberal was no big surprise, for the Liberals are famous for their patronage and cronyism and publicly express pride therein. But there's more, and far worse, far more disturbing than a simple patronage appointment.
Enter Raymond Garneau, whom Judge Gomery appointed to oversee the advisory body responsible for advising him during Phase 2 of the Inquiry's Report, the "Recommendations" phase.
Garneau had a financial interest in the loan syndicate which provided the financial wherewithal for the then-cash-insufficient Paul Martin to acquire Canada Steamship Lines.
Garneau was also CEO of the Montreal City and District Savings bank, which was the bank used by the Caruana/Cuntrera crime family for which former Liberal Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano (also technically in charge-- in terms of contracting -- of the sponsorship program, though he has denied any wrongdoing therewith) worked as an accountant. The bank in question was apparently used for the laundering of $21 million by said crime family.
Garneau was appointed by Martin when he was Finance Minister to the Board of Directors of the Bank of Canada. Garneau was later fired by then-PM Jean Chretien (whom Gomery blamed for Adscam in Phase 1 of his Report) for declaring Chretien should resign so Martin could replace him.
We the Canadian people must now ask why Judge Gomery appointed, of all people, Raymond Garneau, considering all of the above-- there's a very clear conflict of interest here between Garneau and Martin. Judge Gomery owes us an explanation! Did he make an error in judgement and fail to have a background check performed on Garneau? Why did he choose Garneau, exactly? What did he know about Garneau? Did he receive an order from the Prime Minister or a member of his staff to appoint Garneau?
Now that we know about the conflict of interest with regards to Garneau's appointment, will his appointment be terminated? If it isn't, then the entire Inquiry will have to be deemed by the reasonable Canadian citizen as worthless due to the conflict and Gomery's refusal to rectify it. Canadians could very well come to believe, in such an event, that the Inquiry was a whitewash of Paul Martin's involvement, whatever it may have been, if any, in Adscam and a personal, political vendetta by Martin against his nemesis, Chretien.
Will Judge Gomery do the right thing and cancel Raymond Garneau's appointment?
The very credibility of the whole Commission of Inquiry hangs in the balance now. And, of course, so does the credibility of Prime Minister Paul Martin. This is critically important as Canada is now on the starting line of a federal general election.
This issue is not going to go away. This voice will not be silenced.
The next move is for Martin/Gomery. Just watch them. I will be.
